Daycare or ES?

6 comments

1. You could probably do this yourself. Just add language barrier to both lists of cons

2. [deleted]

3. Daycare would usually mean direct hire so unless you’re in Japan already this isn’t a option. JET does have ALT positions that teaches at nursey & kindergarten but its usually a extra duty thing on top of normal ALT work.

   ALT hires from outside of japan means dispatch company or JET and in both cases you don’t get to choose the level of school you’re assign to. Its also common for ALTs to work both ES and JHS with the same BOE.

   The only outside of japan hire option that would guarantee a placement at ES only is international schools or US base school(if you’re American). This route requires qualification and experience and usually have extremely high competition.

4. Most kindergartens in the country and would hire a foreigner are a daycare of sorts. I found them personally very demanding as they normally also act as an ekaiwa as well. Working for an actual school would be best if you can. But, all situations are different. You could get a shitty elementary school.

5. I think teaching at ES and kindergarten are different. I don’t know too much about ES, but my JHS JET friend 15 years ago told me that he visited the ES to play games in the gymnasium once a month. I think this changed 10 years when they started requiring 5th graders to learn English at public schools. I assume ES ALTs do something similar to JHS ALTs at a much basic level.

   I know a thing or two about daycare/kindergarten. /bluestarluchador pretty much described about the basic idea of kindergarten’s job in Japan. I have had similar experiences as he described. At one school, I had a Japanese co-teacher with a kindergarten license. She taught Japanese/music/culture and I taught English/western cultural things. Another international school I worked at, I worked solo. I currently have an assistant teacher, she helps me with diapers/accidents, contacting parents, etc.

   Working at a kindergarten is a full time job that requires a lot of energy, planning, being able to think on your feet, patience, and support. The school principal tells you that we have to do this, which wasn’t on the day’s schedule suddenly, so you have to be able to adjust on the fly. A kid has an accident, so all of a sudden you have to stop class because you have to clean it up. Sometimes your activity finished earlier than you planned, so you need to do something to fill the time. You do not want a class full of kids without an activity or they start to get wild because they can’t sit still for long periods of time.

   Schools here are very event/seasonal driven. You have to do a class play with costumes and kids remembering their lines and acting. There is a school concert where the kids perform on stage singing and playing musical instruments. Next month’s seasonal activity is setsubun, the kids have to make a ogre mask and they throw beans at the ogres, which is usually the teachers in costumes. I heard some schools use volunteers from the neighborhood or retirees.

   I usually don’t deal with day care, but kids do stay after school. The Japanese teachers usually look after them. Sometimes I have to teach after school lessons for graduated students who want to continue learning English.

   The first couple months of a 3 year old class is rough, it is their first time away from home. They are crying for the entire day. I am exhausted by the end of the day. Last year in the 1st week of school I was so tired I was in bed by 9pm, which is 2 hours earlier than normal.

   When it comes to breaks, I have an hour break after school, but sometimes I am just working through it so I don’t have to work late. There is a lot of unpaid overtime work. Some school are worse than others. If I work at a school event on a Saturday, I usually got Monday as a alternative day off. Some schools I had a month paid summer break, but at my current school I only get a week off because we have spring/summer school.

   I think the base salary for most kindergarten jobs are higher than ALTs, maybe the same level as eikaiwa. I think benefits are different at each school. At my 1st job, my company paid my moving expense and paid half my rent, no other schools offered this to me. My current school pays me overtime and pays each after school lesson I teach, no other school offered this benefit.

   I have worked at about six different kindergartens all over Japan with different type of teaching styles (ALT, co-teachers, assistant, solo, English only schools) and management styles and each has their pro and cons. I have done it for about 10+ years so I have seen it all.

6. I suppose it does depend. I currently work at an “international” Kindergarten and its teaching structure is similar to most posts here in how work is divided between Foreign and Japanese staff, but it does look like I got a much better deal than most. There’s an after school daycare component, but the Foreign teachers only have a 30-60 minute duty about 2x a week. There’s also an Eikaiwa component to it, but it’s fairly chill and there’s only just 3-4 classes a week so it’s not too bad. And management was really good about balancing daycare duties and Eikaiwa classes so days weren’t overwhelming. Working isn’t super exhausting since we do have a fair amount of downtime even if we have to prep crafts and activities and such. Most of the time, I’m out within 30 minutes past our scheduled end time which isn’t too bad considering what the JP teachers have to deal with which keeps them there longer. We have summer and winter vacations that are very similar to the ALT holidays while being paid the full amount which is great, a bonus upon completing the contract, and a small raise every year. Also, thankfully, there were only a handful of days we had to come in on a Saturday/Sunday. Rent is also subsidized which can make saving a bit easier. We also get support outside of the school if needed, like, the JP HR lady helped me buy a car and dealt with all the paperwork and communication (still pretty thankful for that).

   The bad is that the admin will blow up the smallest of parent complaints, and power-trippy foreigners whose savior complexes on how things need to be done can get old real quick. Some months are foreigner prep heavy which can be hell if you didn’t prepare for it, and some small monthly admin/parent work that can pile up if you didn’t prepare for it. Some of what was mentioned is mainly a case by case type of thing, but classroom management will be an expectation. Expect to discipline and manage classroom behavior which can be really bad if you’re not experienced in that, and especially with kids who have limited English.

   The kids are sweet and the job can be fun, but it’ll depend entirely on the school structure, how good you are with time management, and how well you can manage a classroom. Some places a good and some places have it pretty bad.